GOP primary is officially messy

The revelation that Michele Bachmann has migraines - described as manageable by her, debilitating by others - signaled that the sleepy GOP primary is now officially joined, and messy.

After the Daily Caller broke a story that, while based on anonymous former aides, clearly was based in some fact, the story had a real ripple effect.

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Bachmann ended up reading a statement about her condition, denying that it impacted her ability to serve. The campaign also made her medical resident son available to the New York Times to discuss his mom's treatment.

The issue will become whether voters care, and whether it impacts her ability to do her job. On the latter point, Kasie Hunt and Molly Ball get closer to it today with news that that Bachmann missed eight congressional votes because of a migraine at one point.

Most significantly, the story also made the front page of the Des Moines Register, the politically potent paper in the early caucus state where Bachmann is hoping to make her mark, ensuring that voters there will at least be somewhat aware of the issue. (Fox News' Carl Cameron also flagged it in a package he did from Iowa last night).

The question is whether it impacts Bachmann among voters, and it remains to be seen if people debating between her and other candidates in advance of the Ames Straw Poll see it as a factor.

But for her hardcore supporters, who are with her regardless, it's hard to see it having an impact, and it may engender sympathy among voters who see it as an unfair attack.